Student Web Page FAQ

What is on my web page?

How do I edit my web page?

How can I edit my web pages?

Here are some pointers for creating your Web page.

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I have a web page?
You CAN have a web page. All you have to do is request a Student Web Page account and create your page.

How do I get an account?
In order to obtain your web site, please send an email to Jason Collet at colletj@wnmu.edu requesting a site. Please send this email from your WNMU email account. Jason will respond providing you with a site using your user name and a temporary password. Jason will also provide a set of links to the site implementation pages.

In order to receive a Student Web Page Account, you must already have a valid WNMU Mustang Express account. If you have a WNMU email address, then you have a Mustang Express account. Once your account has been created you will be given a Student Web Page password. Your user name and Student Web Page password can be used to access your Student Web Page Account at http://copper.wnmu.edu.

What is on my web page?
Unless you put something on it, it will show up as an under construction page containing your username. This prevents someone getting the traditional ‘404 not found’ response if they access your page before you upload something.

How do I edit my web page?
You can edit your web files off line using whatever tools you find most convenient. When you have your files the way you want them, log on to Student Web Page and upload your edited files to your page. Make sure you have a back up of your web files.

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How do people access my web pages?

What will my URL be?
Your URL will be http://copper.wnmu.edu/~username

What is the WNMU policy on content?
Students are responsible for the content of their pages. WNMU's Personal Web Site Policy covers inappropriate personal web page content. WNMU will only take a reactive role in dealing with any content issues. Student Web Page users will be expected to follow WNMU policies and guidelines for publishing web pages. Minor violations will result in the offending material being deleted. Significant violations concerning content will be forwarded to the appropriate Vice President. Any complaints regarding abuse of computer resources will be handled by IT, generally by removal of the offending site.

Where do I get help creating my pages?
There are a lot of resources for getting help with your web publishing adventures. The first place to check might be Student Web Page support. It contains a variety of information specific to Student Web Page. As time passes, more general information about the web and the Internet will be added. There are also many web page development resources on the Internet. You can find these by using your favorite search engine or check the list at the bottom of this FAQ.

What kind of support do I get for my student pages?
WNMU IT does not directly assist students in making their student pages. This FAQ, along with other informative and tutorial information was created so students could help themselves.

What is my disk quota?
Each Student Web Page user gets a 20MB disk quota. This should be enough to create a very impressive web site.

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If there are truly mitigating circumstances that cause you to require more space, go ahead and ask. But be prepared to present a cogent and compelling defense of your request.

Who can register for a free web account?
Any current student, faculty member or employee of WNMU can request a free Student Web Page account. When you request an account, you will be required to use your WNMU email address in order to prove that you are an authorized user. A Student Web Page password will be sent to your WNMU email address. You will need to use this password to obtain access to the Copper server to create and edit your web page.

Can faculty and staff have their own home pages?
Absolutely, all users on campus can request and construct web pages for personal use.

Can I let somebody else put his or her page under my account?
No. That would mean that you would have to share your password with them, which you should not do.

What happens to my web account when I graduate?
Unless we run into capacity problems, we will not delete your web pages until you can make other arrangements for serving them. This is to allow you the opportunity to use them in job hunting and give you the time to find another host. You will NOT be able to log in and change your pages: make sure you have a backup. If you are able to arrange another host, please let us know so we can cancel your account and recover the space. If we do not hear from you by a reasonable amount of time (a few months) or by the time we reach a capacity crisis, we will cancel your account and recover the resources.

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Are there any bandwidth limitations?
Currently there are no bandwidth restrictions for student, faculty and staff web sites. However, if bandwidth ever becomes a problem, we will take the necessary steps to address the issue. Please use this service wisely and with consideration. We provide this service for your benefit and education. Please use it as such.

Can I write my friends to let them know about my site?
Yes, although you should remember that there's a fine line between "writing all your friends" and "spamming".

Can I register my site with search engines?
Yes, you can.

What is HTML?
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is the set of "markup" symbols or codes inserted in a file intended for display on a World Wide Web browser. The markup tells the Web browser how to display a Web page's words and images for the user. If you want to create your own pages for inclusion on Student Web Page you will need to learn about HTML. With it you can create your Web documents and link specific areas of your Web documents to other documents on the Web, point to sections of other documents, and link to images, sound clips, and video clips and other media types.

Why should I use View Source?
One of the best ways to learn HTML is to see how other people write their pages. Find a page you like and use your browser's View Source command to see the HTML source code behind it. It's a great way to (legally) steal ideas on how to make your pages better!

I have no computer. How can I make web pages?
WNMU has several computer labs that have all the software necessary to create web pages. Scanners and printers are also available.

What is the difference between .htm and .html?
There is no difference. Both indicate that the file is an HTML file. It makes sense to end an html file with .html, but since some operating systems do not operate on files with 4 letters in the suffix, the suffix was shortened to use just .htm.

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Is there a list of all student web pages?
Yes. Any time an account is opened, a link to the page is put on the Student Web Page Index.

What do I name my homepage?
You can name it pretty much anything you want, but the filename for your starting page must be default.html. This will be the page that visitors see when they open your website. If there is not a default.html file in your website, anyone trying to access your site will get errors.

How do I protect my email address from spammers?
The basic trick is to encode the email address in some way such that the harvester bots are unlikely to recognize it as an email address but the browser’s HTML interpreter will correctly include it on the page.

Normally, a ‘mailto’ statement in HTML will look like this:

href="mailto:username@wnmu.edu"

The robot can use either the ‘mailto’ or the @ or even the format of the statement to trigger harvesting of the address. One of the simplest ways to hide the address is to encode some or all of the characters as special HTML characters. The following is an example of how the above mailto statement might look if partially encoded.

HREF="MAILTO:username@wn&#109u;esa.com"

This is certainly more difficult to recognize as an email address and also more difficult to harvest.

A more complicated but significantly more secure trick is to use JavaScript to encode the ‘mailto’ statement. Here is one way the above mailto statement might look using javascript to encode it.

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">;

var v0 = "mail";

var v6 = "to:";

var v1 = "username";

var v2 = "wnmu";

var v3 = ".";

var v4 = "com";

var v5 = "@";

document.write('<a href=" + v0 + v6 + v1 + v5 + v2 + v3 + v4 + ">');

</script>

Here the javascript ‘document write’ statement creates the HTML mailto directive and writes it into your page. Again, this is done during the execution of the page, not when just reading the source. A robot would have to be very sophisticated to recognize this as an email address, particularly since with appropriate changes, the two sections could be located far apart in the source code.

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How can I put a counter on my page?
Right now, you don’t. Counters require some sort of server-based applet. We have not implemented these at this time because we haven’t got time to protect the server from buggy code. We plan on creating some customizable services such as counters for Student Web Page accounts in the future. Any suggestions you may have will be considered.

Why didn't I get a response to my email asking for Student Web Page help?
As is mentioned in the Student Web Page guidelines and policies, IT cannot provide individual help for web page development.

Who do I send comments to about Student Web Page?
You can send comments to Jason Collet at colletj@wnmu.edu , or talk with your student government representative.

How do I access the cgi-bin?
You don’t. Since improperly written cgi-bin programs represent a known security risk, we do not allow cgi-bin programs on Student Web Page. We have not implemented cgi-bin because we haven’t got time to protect the server from buggy code. We plan on creating some customizable services such as counters for Student Web Page accounts in the future. Any suggestions you may have will be considered.

Can I use MS FrontPage? No. There is no FrontPage support on Student Web Page. You can, however, create your pages using FrontPage, but you cannot transfer files to the server using FrontPage.

What type of server is Copper?
Copper is a Dell P4 currently running Apache Server on an installation of Redhat Linux.

Why is this FAQ so worthless? It doesn't answer my questions.
Sorry, I guess. But all is not lost. You should feel free to research your question on the web. There are many FAQs and tutorials available, many just as lame as this one. Just use your favorite search engine to find them.

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How do I make sure I’ve avoided plagiarism and copyright issues?
You may have made personal Web pages in the past without worrying about copyrights and plagiarism, but for all Student Web Page Web sites, use this checklist to avoid plagiarism and copyright law violations.

For all multimedia (images, audio, & video):

1. Obtain permission for each image, video, or sound clip used on your Web site FROM THE AUTHOR/OWNER OF THE COPYRIGHT!!! (See University of Washington’s Guidelines for Image Use or Guidelines for Sound File Use for further clarification).
2. Cite the permission for each image used (see the University of Washington’s pages Obtaining Permissions and Citing Permissions for help).
3. Credit the author of an image next to or below the image. If you created your own images, credit yourself.
4. Take down all images (especially copyrighted images) that you have not obtained and cited permission for.

For text:

1. Use all original text (no cutting and pasting from books or Web sites) or use paraphrasing and use quotation marks for direct quotations.
2. For each fact or piece of information, credit the source in parentheses INSIDE THE SENTENCE OR PARAGRAPH THAT CONTAINS THE INFORMATION!!! (If all you have is a works cited page, you are not using correct citations - see the University of Washington page Citing Sources in MLA Style).
3. Make a Works Cited/Permissions page listing all references and permissions.
4. Remove any text that has been copied or too closely resembles another source.

Regarding Copyrights
If you intend to post some content (graphics and/or text) on your page that you did not create, make sure that you receive permission to do so from the owner of the copyright on that work. If the copyright owner refuses to allow you to use their graphic on your site, respect their decision and find some other way to accomplish your design goal. Using a copyrighted image without permission is illegal, and you can find yourself threatened with legal action over this sort of thing.

For more in-depth information about copyrights and the Net, see The Copyright Website (or just do a search on your favorite search engine):

Note: Some designers do make collections of images and animations available that are freely downloadable without the need for permission to be granted. You may copy such images freely and use them on your own pages. Do abide by the authors' rules, though - some artists request that you provide them with credit via a link on your page.

a fine semi-interactive tutorial by Eric A. Meyer of Case Western Reserve University

More tutorials from: CNetBuilder

This HTML Tips page shows you some common mistakes to avoid and has some advice on page construction.

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The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the group which created the Web standards to lead the Web to its utmost potential.

Use this page to validate HyperText Markup Language (HTML) pages and check for errors.

Use this page to validate Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and check for errors.

Current information on the latest specifications for HTML documents.

Current information on the latest specifications for CSS documents.

A series of specialized Tutorials in many aspects of using HTML to create Web pages.

A good starting place for the novice Web designer.

Tutorials and references on many different Web design subject matters.

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A very basic index of HTML tags and their attributes.

An index of HTML tags with explanations and usage.

Links to on-line resources in all areas of Web design for advanced and novice users alike.

Great resource to learn the JavaScript basics.

An exhaustive list of online resources that every Web designer should be familiar with.

Article in Web reference that are very useful when creating and selecting graphics.

Test whether a page is accessible by validating it against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 or U.S. Section 508 Guidelines.

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http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/vis/vit/html/train.html

These are some simple guides that Vancouver uses to teach HTML in workshops. They cover most of the areas that any student would need in order to create a web page.

Saving files and images from the Web

http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/vis/online/html/websave.htm

This page has instructions on saving pages and images from the web.

To start editing HTML, we recommend using a text processor that makes it easier to write raw HTML rather than a WYSIWYG (or "what-you-see-is-what-you-get") editor such as Front Page. WYSIWYG editors generally produce messy and inefficient HTML. You're better off (especially in the beginning) learning true HTML in order to understand what’s going on before relying on Web authoring software. That way, you know what you can do, how you can do it, and how to resolve any problems you encounter.

If you opt to use one of the many available visual editors or authoring tools, look for something that is made especially for web pages and that will let you view the html code so you can troubleshoot it.

How can I edit my web pages?

The best way to edit your web page is to use your backup copy. Make any changes on that copy and then reload the page into your web directory. Remember that the file will need to have the same name as the original in order for the links to work.

Here are some pointers for creating your Web page.

Creating Student, Faculty and Staff Web Pages

Any WNMU student, faculty member or employee with a network account has the opportunity to create his/her own Web page for display on the WNMU Student Web page site. Basic Web page creation is fairly simple. Lots of people have created good Web pages without any help whatever. While this section is not intended to describe the entire process of Web page creation, it does cover some details you will find useful and a few general ideas about design and presentation.

The purpose of a Web page is to tell the world about you. However, you should not include private information that you would not want a stranger to know. It is common to include a photo of yourself and tell something about yourself and generally where you live (although we recommend that you do not publish your home address and phone number). You might also want to list your hobbies and include links to some of your favorite Web sites.

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Web sites generally contain the following:

A main page that introduces yourself, your subjects and from which other pages can be linked

A link to the WNMU Disclaimer page (required)

Navigation aids (generally, you will want to put buttons on the left hand side of the page or at the top of the page, and keep them consistent throughout your site)

Quality content (i.e., original text, figures, etc.)

Images illustrating your content

Hyperlinks to other web sites of interest

An email link to you, at the bottom of each page

An ‘updated’ advisor showing the last time the page was updated.

Your main Web page file must be named "default.html". You will upload this file through Student Web Page.

Any graphics files on your page, such as scanned photos, must not have any spaces in the filename.

It’s probably best not to get to arty on your first attempt. Once you’re more comfortable with HTML and the overall process, then you can try fancier things. Also, you should test your pages. See how they look on several browsers. Test all the links to be sure they work correctly.

Be sure to proofread your page(s) carefully. If you publish pages with spelling errors or typos, it will make you look ignorant to the rest of the world, and you don't want to give that impression.

If you want to include a lot of photos, it is better to have no more than five or six on a page, along with a link to the next page of photos, rather than to have many photos all on one page (the vast majority of Internet users in the world connect via modem, and a page with many photos takes forever to load over a modem).

If you use a background image or a background color, be sure that the text on your page is still readable above the background. It may be necessary to change the color of the text to make it readable; for example, if using a dark blue background, white text would probably be more readable than the default of black or blue.

If you have more than one page, links between the pages should consist of just the filename (example: 2ndpage.htm), rather than the full address. On the other hand, links to any other pages but your own must include the full Web address (or "URL"), starting with the http:// etc.

Look at many other personal Web pages for ideas on how you'd like your page(s) to look. There are many Web sites containing free graphics suitable for backgrounds and icons. For example, do a Yahoo or Google search on "Web graphics".

Please don’t upload any files that are not actually being used in your Web page(s).

Try to make your Web pages appealing, but professional looking (don't use bells and whistles unless they serve a purpose).

Try to make your Web sites easy to navigate and easy to read.

Penn State makes several web page templates available at http://css.its.psu.edu/webtemplates/forms.html.

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